


At Twilight He Would Go Out

by NerdsbianHokie



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F, Genderfluid HG, Other, from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 18:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5836354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdsbianHokie/pseuds/NerdsbianHokie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes she's Helena, sometimes he's Herbert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gender

**Author's Note:**

> I posted these on Tumblr about a year ago, and someone just requested that I post them here.
> 
> Inspired by comments made somewhere about HG being Genderfluid. The title comes from The Invisible Man, by - well - HG Wells

Helena used to vanish sometimes.

She would be there at dinner, but gone by breakfast.

The first time had been just a month after she had come back to the Warehouse.

She had been gone for a week.

Artie hadn’t even waited until the end of breakfast to send you and Pete after her. Pete had done nothing be complain through mouthfuls of scones as you had driven aimlessly.

Aimlessly and to no avail. Her lack of knowledge in modern technology, despite Claudia’s annoyance, had kept her off the grid.

It hardly mattered, anyway.

A week later, she returned just had she had left – gone when you went to bed and there when you woke.

She had been happier than when she had left, and had brought Plato’s sandals with her.

She had left again less than two weeks later and was gone for nearly a month.

So, the pattern had begun.

She spends an indeterminable time at the Warehouse, then an equally indeterminable time away.

It is one of those times away now.

You are at Univille’s best and only bar, just trying to forget the last snag – tentacles, why did it have to be tentacles?

A glass clinks against the counter next to you.

“Hard day at work, darling?”

Your head snaps to the side. You focus on your face.

“Helena?” The word leaves your mouth in a gasp barely heard over the noise of the bar.

She seems to flinch away from it regardless.

“Please,” she softly said. “Just HG for now.”

Your eyebrows furrow in confusion but you nod.

It is then that you notice her outfit. Her overall appearance, actually.

She looks distinctly…male.

Her hair is trapped beneath a hat. Her suit is perfectly tailored, but her chest is flat.

The only thing about her that doesn’t scream male is her posture. It isn’t as sure as you are used to seeing. Her head is down and her shoulders hunched. Her eyes are flicking about. Her muscles seem to tense and relax sporadically.

“Can we talk somewhere a bit more private?”

You couldn’t help but notice that her voice is deeper, rougher. And as enchanting as always.

You nod. “Of course.”

She smiles slightly as you lead her to a booth as far from the other patrons as possible.

You sit in silence. She is in a state of constant movement. She shifts from side to side, pushes a lose lock of hair back under her cap, sighs and looks up at the ceiling.

“I…” She takes a deep breath and leans towards you. “I’m not entirely sure how to explain.”

“Explain what?”

She rubs the back of her neck and turns her gaze to the rest of the bar.

You lean forward and set a hand on the forearm she has rested on the table.

“HG,” you say. “You can trust me.”

She turns back to you. She just stares at you for a few moments before nodding.

“I do, but there are many people I trusted yet never told.”

The seriousness of the situation grips your heart. You nod and flex your fingers against the soft fabric of her jacket.

She brings her other hand over and lays it over yours. Her thumb moves back and forth over your skin.

“I am Helena, I truly am,” she took another deep breath. “However, I am not always Helena.”

You tilt your head to the side, quietly pushing her to explain.

“Sometimes…sometimes I’m Herbert. Herbert, a man, a very real man.”

Your gaze moves down her body again, taking in the outfit. The stance. The…fear.

“You’re Herbert now.”

It comes out as a statement, not a question. You see the truth easily on her…no, his face. You aren’t sure you fully understand what HG means, but you see the sincerity, the need for acceptance.

This is why he has been leaving the Warehouse. The fear, the uncertainty; all shadowed by the need to be himself.

He nods.

You squeeze his arm gently.

“Hello, Herbert,” you say.

His face lights up.

“Hello, Myka.”


	2. Falling in Twos

You begin to receive notes while Herbert is away.  They appear folded on your nightstand, tucked in the frame of your rear-view mirror, replacing the bookmark in your current book.  They consist of times and locations and quotes from books you know oh so well.

_“He rarely went abroad by daylight, but at twilight he would go out…” The Invisible Man_

_“It sounds plausible enough tonight, but wait until tomorrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning.”  The Time Machine_

_“Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods. I do not know how far my experience is common. At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all” War of the Worlds_

You keep every single note he leaves you.  They are gently stored between the pages of your HG Wells books.  You spend the days in anticipation, then eagerly meet him when the time comes.

You enjoy the time you spend with Herbert.  It is absurdly easy to talk with him.  Herbert is just as charming, as intelligent, as wonderful as Helena.  Of course, Herbert is Helena, only, he isn’t Helena.

You never worry yourself over the exact semantics.  HG is HG.

Herbert and Helena both make you think, make you smile, make you blush.

Now, you watch Herbert lean closer to you.  His hand curls around the back of your neck and you let him pull you closer.

Your lips meet.

You never want to kiss anyone but Herbert and Helena for the rest of your life.

But, you never have kissed Helena.

-

Pete knows there is someone else in your life.  He has you cornered.  The note is burning a hole in your pocket.

_“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”_

“It’s a man friend, isn’t it?” he presses.

You huff and consent.  Yes, it is a man friend.  Yes, it is a date – a date you will be late for if you don’t leave soon.  No, you will not give any more details.

He has a stupid grin on his face as you push past him.

When you return later, your lips still tingling from Herbert’s kisses, your calves still burning from the bicycles he had rented, the entire team knows.

When Helena returns the first thing she says to you is, “I hear you have found yourself a beau.”

You blush and dip your head.

She pushes some of your hair behind your ear.  You look up slightly, watching her through your lashes as you pull your bottom lip between your teeth.

She chuckles beneath her breath and leans forward to press a kiss to your temple.

You look up fully and press your lips to hers.

She pulls back after a moment.

“I’m not Herbert.”

“I know, but maybe I like both Helena and Herbert.”

Her face lights up and she leans in to kiss you again.


	3. Pin

Claudia is the first after you to meet Herbert.

The three of you are on a snag.  Pete is still recovering from his last whammie, so Artie had sent you and Claudia to give the girl more experience.  He sent Helena because she would have been the only person with him in the Warehouse, and that is not an option.

Artie had passed the snag off as an easy one.  You should have never believed him.  New York City snags are _never_ easy snags.  Even if the snag itself is easy, something always happens.

As it turns out, nothing about this snag is easy.

It would be hard enough tracking an artifact that prevents anyone who wants to find it and it’s possessor from…well, finding it.  It is even harder when the possessor decides to hide in the most populated city in the country.

That the guy is a wanted criminal and you have to work with both the NYPD and the FBI is just the icing on the cake.

The look on HG’s face as you are woken is an entirely different problem.  Well, not technically a problem as you will never see this as a problem, but you can’t think of how to explain to the other people on the case that Helena, the female British science consultant was now Herbert, the male British science consultant.

Or how to tell Claudia.

You know the girl will accept it without a second thought but you also know how deep Herbert’s fear runs.

It is that completely rational fear that shades his face now.

You sit up, pull him onto the bed, and wrap your arms around him.

“It’s okay,” you murmur as he presses his face into your neck.  Your hand moves up and down his back.  He relaxes against you.

When he pulls back, the fear has faded slightly.

“If you need to, you can go,” you tell him.  “I’ll cover for you.”

He shakes his head.  “I can’t, not with this case.”

You cup his face and press a kiss to his forehead.

“You need to take care of yourself.  Claudia and I can take care of the case.”

“Why?  Where are you going, HG?”

You both jump.  You hadn’t noticed Claudia enter the room through the door that connected the rooms.

Herbert looks at you with wide eyes.  It hits you, not for the first time, that moments like this are the only time you ever see HG truly vulnerable.  It just makes you want to hug him and never stop.

“HG just has to go do some stuff,” you quickly tell Claudia.  “We’ll be able to finish this case up alone.”

Claudia raises an eyebrow in clear disbelief.  “Right,” she drawls.

“Claudia,” Herbert says.  He stands and takes a deep breath.  “There is something I must tell you.”

You stand.  You gently touch Herbert’s arm.  He looks to you and nods.

“Perhaps we should go sit down for this,” you suggest.  “Maybe make some tea.”

“Yes, that might be best,” he agrees.

You all move to the small kitchenette.  You and Claudia sit and watch Herbert, who insists that as he is the only one who can make a decent cup of tea he should be the one to make it.

When the tea is steeped, you silently sip yours as Herbert talks to Claudia.

The girl keeps her face neutral throughout Herbert’s explanation, then tilts her head to the side.

“So, you’re, what?  Genderfluid?”

Herbert’s eyebrows furrow.  “What?”

“Genderfluid,” Claudia repeats.  “It’s pretty much what you explained.  Sometimes you’re one gender, sometimes you’re another.”

“It’s not just me,” Herbert whispered.  His face lights up and he turns to you.  “Myka, it’s not just me.”

You grin, then laugh as he crashes into you with a hug.  You nearly fall off of your seat, but manage to stay on and hold him tight.

“Oh my God,” Claudia exclaimed, her eyes are wide and her mouth stretched into a grin.  “You’re the mystery guy Myka’s seeing.”

He pulls away from you, winks at her, then kisses you soundly.

A few weeks later, after the artifact has been snagged, and Helena had returned to the B&B – Herbert wasn’t quite ready for the entire team to know yet – a new pin appeared on Claudia’s jackets.  Three stripes, lavender, white, and chartreuse.

You remember seeing the same colors at the top of the webpage about genderfulidity Claudia had shown Herbert that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is it. Just a short thing, but I hope everyone likes it.


End file.
